Beyond the Stars
by Lovely-Viper-Venom
Summary: 13 years before the events of Ronan the Accuser, things were quite different among Yondu and his Ravagers...as well as other Ravagers, and the rest of the galaxies. Stakar can't keep an eye on all of them! (M rating for much later chapters )


I haven't made OCs in a moment, but I do hope this one is quite suitable! Mostly posted for a few friends wanting to read this, but hoping I can find others who may like this story!  
It's set many years before the current events of Guardians of the Galaxy, where Quill was still closely working with Yondu, and Yondu's exile was still a little fresh in other Ravagers' memories. This story will be based heavily from the Cinematic universe with some borrowed ideas and story from the actual comics themselves. Hope everyone enjoys!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters of the Guardian of the Galaxy's franchise, or of Marvel or Disney's franchise.

* * *

Space. It was an endless void of endless possibilities. It was chockful of galaxies, which held endless amounts of star systems. Many of those star systems also had their own rocky or gassy planets that orbited them, and just like the Sol system, many held some form of life. Humans like Ashela had never thought about the intricacies of space when she was a star gazing child. It was a very foreign concept to imagine years from that point, she'd be in space, meeting various aliens and visiting far away planets. It was an even more remote concept to believe she would achieve this by becoming a Ravager. In other words, a space pirate.  
Ashela was sitting in the captain's chair, while two crew members piloted the ship. They were racing their way through the vastness of space, towards a jump point. They were only one more away from the final destination, the only habitable planet in the Reston system. The planet was more of a stopping point for various outlaws and runaways. It had a governing body, though so corrupt it made little difference. It was rare for Ashela to be in this part of the Andromeda galaxy, but there was a particular target of interest heading to this very planet, and she was planning to beat them there. Ashela was holding a glass screen that had glowing numbers and a picture of a man displayed on it. This man had recently acquired a 500,000 unit bounty for him, dead or alive.

"Captain, we're approaching Ardroi," her main pilot announced. Ashela sweeped her hand over the glowing glass and the bounty notice disappeared.

" Great. Land as close to Ollan city as you can," she said.

"Affirmative," her pilot responded. The ship broke the atmosphere, revealing a sprawling planet of browns and greens, with thousands of large blue lakes. The ship coasted towards the dark side of the planet, dark lands twinkling with the lights of many cities. It appeared to be a peaceful, beautiful planet from above, but was quite a different story on the surface. Ashela had told the crew they were coming here on a holiday, given the hard work they put in for their last job. Only her first mate knew what they were on Ardroi for.

The crew was coming off the ship and heading into town, talking and laughing, ready to have a good time. Ashela followed behind, joined by her first mate, Krel, an alien with dark green skin, and an enlongated head with a frill.

" I already spoke to the bar owner earlier, and we have reserved booths and tables for our crew. We have made it in quite good time before he arrives," Krel informed her, his frill ruffling as he spoke.

"Very good, let us get inside then before they arrive," she said, looking around at the grimy street they were walking down that led into the city's central hub. The streets of the outskirts were dark and filthy, with leering eyes of those who lived there in the decrepid buildings. As they got further into the city though, the streets were cleaner, and there were a variety of shops, bars and restaurants lit up with neon signs and holographic advertisements. Music flooded the streets from the opened doored bars, some patrons standing outside with their drinks, smoking a plant that caused green smoke to billow from their mouths.  
On one of the larger streets, there was a two floored building that served as a bar and a hotel. There was a big, neon blue sign above the building that flashed the establishment's name; Blue Supernova.

Ashela made her way through the double doors with Krel and looked to the wide expanse of room filled with tables and booths, all filled with rowdy occupants. A lot of her crew had their own tables and booths that had been reserved for them. Music pulsed through the dim building from a DJ working a suspended booth, flashing, colorful lights coordinated to the beat. Ashela made her way to her reserved booth with Krel, ordering a drink as they waited. The booth was in the best spot, where it overlooked the main floor and every entrance. She would not miss anyone coming into the bar and with the rowdy environment, it would make it hard for anyone entering to realize they were being watched.

It wasn't long before she settled into her booth and had a sip of her sparkling, glowing drink before her intended target had arrived. By time her first cocktail was gone, Ravagers in red began to flood through the doors in a raucious manner. Ashela's ice blue eyes locked on the man she had been waiting for; Yondu Udonta. Eyes followed as he talked to some skinny man with brown hair, and a young looking one with blonde hair.

"Krel. Gailena. Stay here," she said, sitting down the empty glass. She got up and made her way down a couple of stairs and towards the main bar where Yondu was headed. The crowded tables and people standing about drinking and talking made for perfect cover of her approach. By time she managed to squeeze her way past some hulking locals to the bar, he was already there leaning in and talking to the barman about opening a tab in his name. Ashela approached slowly and leaned on the bar.

" When you have the time, Krol'ti, another of the Glitter Bug," she said with a wink. The orange skinned man gave her a wide smile and nodded. Yondu snuck a look over at the woman. It was poorly timed as her own eyes turned and caught his.

"...Yondu Udonta," she said with a cooled manner, her mood seeming to shift. Yondu frowned when he realized the woman knew him, and the more he noted her bright blue eyes, the long, blonde hair, the pale skin...he realized who it was. The fears he had were confirmed as he looked at her dark blue coat and the Ravager flames on it. Every muscle tensed as he wondered if another particular Ravager was lurking around the establishment.

"Who's asking?" he asked gruffly, taking a drink from Krol'ti. Ashela arched a brow at him and his attitude.

" I been strongly advised to withdraw my faction's business with any establishment that serves exiles like you," she said, looking to Krol'ti as he mixed her glittering, glowing blue cocktail. "And you know damn well who's asking, Yondu. You ain't that old to be forgetting shit."

"An' you ain't supposed to be talkin' to no exile too, I imagine, so what's brought ya here, opening your mouth to me?" he shot back, glaring at her. Anger was beginning to rise in him. " Suppose you gon' run off to Stakar, let him know not to bring his business here, eh?"

Krol'ti gave Ashela her glowing drink. Ashela thanked him and gave him a generous tip for his trouble. A calm sip was taken of the sweet drink as Yondu spoke in anger to her.

"For a price, I won't,"she said, leaning closer to him. There was a mischievous smile she wore that Yondu didn't trust. She was right; she ought to be gathering her crew and walking out of the bar, refusing to come back again. An exile was to never be helped or communicated with. She was breaking the Ravager code by giving a simple greeting or acknowledgement. Yet, this woman was standing here trying to blackmail him. Curiosity was winning over his anger. He wanted to know what she wanted out of him after thirteen years.

"I'll play your game...what's the price for keeping your mouth shut?" he asked, glaring at her.

"A dance," she said with a simple shrug. Yondu stared at her, before reaching up to dig a finger in his ear. It was clear that he believed he had not heard her correctly.

"Sorry girl, say that again. You said...a dance?" he repeated, not believing what he thought he heard.

"Getting deaf in your old age, Yondu? Yeah, that's what I said. A dance," she said, and drank the rest of her glowing cocktail, waving for Krol'ti to make her another. Yondu was not a dancer. Some of his crew could dance and enjoyed such entertainment, but it was not his style. If he refused, he wondered if she would then demand a hefty amount of units or leave and tell Stakar anyway.  
What did it matter to him if this place lost the Ravagers' business? There were millions of other places, and billions of other bars and clubs just like this in other galaxies and systems. What did he care if she told Stakar the places he visited? The way she smiled was what kept him curious. She knew well what he done, and why he got exiled in the first place. She was a young adult then, being hand trained by Stakar himself. He had figured she would have taken after him, taken to heart whatever he said and believed every word. Her actions were unusual, and now he was suspicious what she was up to.

"...Fine, just one. Not my fault if I step on your toes though, ain't much of a dancer," he muttered and finished his drink in one gulp. He hoped this would make her talk and he could figure out her motives.

Ashela was given her new drink just as Yondu agreed. It was swallowed down like water before she led him to the dance floor among other patrons, dancing to the loud electric music. Ashela guided his hands to her hips and put her own hands on his shoulder and chest, dancing close but at an easy pace for him to fall into.

"You know, if any of your crew decided to get it in their head to tell on ya, for talking to me, you can be exiled too, girl, ain't worth it," he warned. Though his crew and him had been managing, they weren't as well off as some other factions due to their exile and lack of support. She would be in the same position. "So fess up, whatchu want out of me, confronting me like this after all this time?"

Ashela's smile widened. "I'm touched you're concerned about me," she teased as they danced in a circle, keeping to themselves from the other more jubilant dancing couples.

Yondu wore a frown at her lighthearted attitude. This was not Ravager like, and he was not sure how to deal with it. " Ain't nothing 'bout caring, just damn curious what your motives are here, when you stand to lose out. Either you're stupid or crazy. Or both," he shot back.

Ashela leaned up towards his ear. To the naked eye, they seemed like two people being rather intimate. Her voice was the furthest from such intentions. The playful, teasing tone she had been using was gone. Now it held a tone of urgent importance.  
"There is a bounty of 500,000 units for you here. Now, the most ideal thing for me to do is knock you out and take you in for that bounty..." she said, and felt his body tense up in defense.  
" However...having a history, albeit small...and you still being a Ravager by name, I feel inclined to inform you that a fairly large gang, the Bondi gang, is on their way here for that bounty. They have a full fleet. They saw you leaving your last destination and figured out from some inside source where you were headed next," Ashela informed, dancing close to him.  
" I was not told who the informant was, but the Bondi gang will be here in thirty minutes ...you need to get to the jump and get out, quickly," she warned.

Each word sounded more ludicrous than the last. Yondu had only had one drink so far tonight yet he was not grasping the situation he found himself in with Ashela.  
There was a rather hefty bounty out for his capture according to her, which was nothing new. There were plenty of bounties out for his capture, the Kree having the largest price so far. The Bondi gang were known for their bounty hunting as well as illegal arms dealing in multiple galaxies. It was no surprise they would have picked up his bounty with such an enticing price tag on it.  
What was surprising to him was instead of taking the bounty for herself, Ashela was telling him who was coming after him and telling him to run. 500,000 units was a hefty sum but Ashela did not appear to care for it and was opting to warn him. It made him curious as to how financially secure she really was to turn down such a tempting amount.  
He stopped dancing with her, red eyes fixed on her in disbelief.

" Are you crazy, girl?! Yer damn right, you should be collectin' for yourself! Figured Stakar would have you turned against me over the decade," he stated in a wary, unbelieving tone.

" Look, we don't have the time to argue about this, Yondu. I make my own decisions and opinions, no one else does it for me. Not even Stakar. We can always talk about my reasons some other time once you safely get out of here, okay? Right now, you're running out of time," she said and smiled to him. Her hand found his, taking it and holding it. There was a folded paper passed into his palm. " My frequencies, just in case, Yondu,"she said then leaned up, giving him a brief kiss on the cheek.  
It served to stun him into silence, giving Ashela time to slip away before he could stop her and ask more questions. She disappeared into the crowd of people and noise around them before he regained his senses to stop her. So much had happened in that short span of time for Yondu to process but once he did, he knew he had to act quick. He cleared his head enough to call for Kraglin to get the ship started immediately.  
Yondu began to make his way through the bar, rounding up his crew and grabbing the young, dark blonde man Ashela noticed before. They exchanged words before the young man nodded and bolted out of the place with the rest of the crew. Yondu was the last to leave out, ensuring he had every crew member heading out back to the ship. He stopped at the doors, a shiver going down his back as if he was being watched. His Alpha Centaurian senses were kicking in as he turned around, looking to see if he was being watched. In the far corner, he saw her again, sitting in a booth with what could only be members of her own crew, holding one of those glowing blue, glittery drinks.  
Even from this distance, his sharp eyes could see her smile and wink in his direction, the drink held up towards him. Yondu had to grin at the luck he been blessed with tonight. He stared a second more at her before turning on heel and leaving the place, shouting orders to his crew ahead of him to hurry it up.

* * *

A week had gone by since Ashela's encounter with Yondu on the Terran-like Ardroi. That night had got interesting after he and his crew successfully escaped. The leader of the Bondi gang had entered the bar, and gone to the owner, demanding to know if a certain faction of Ravagers had been around. The word 'Ravager' had caught the attention of some of her crew mates who were in the vicinity. They listened as they drank at their tables. While they all were Ravagers, it was not to be assumed they were affiliated with Yondu and his exiled faction. Ashela's association with him that night had not been observed by many of them, as they were having too much fun to even notice Yondu's faction had visited.

The owner informed the Bondi leader only one faction was present. That was when the Bondi leader sought out the captain of the present Ravagers. Ashela sat in comfort with her first mate, Krel, and her chief engineer, Gailena. The hulking, purple skinned man was yelling at her and making a scene in the bar, demanding that she yield Yondu Udonta to him. Ashela had fixed the man with a silent, icy blue stare. Her words were spoken in a calm and cooled manner, carrying a warning for him to step away from her table. She had explained Ravagers did not support nor harbor any exiled Ravagers, and since Yondu was such, their code dictated they were not to aid and abet the man under any circumstances. The Bondi leader didn't like her answer, fueled with anger at the realization that his target slipped past him without his knowing.  
As fast as he pulled his blaster, a sharp, shining knife had buried itself right into his jugular. Dark, tar-like blood squirted and leaked from the wound the more he gasped and coughed. The Bondi leader fell to his knees, clutching the hilt of the knife, gurgling as he bled out. Ashela stood and knelt next to him, pulling the knife from the wound. Blood gushed out, pooling around the Bondi leader's body. Ashela called for her crew to report to the ship immediately, heading to the owner and paying her tab, adding a few hundred extra for the scene and mess she just made.  
The Bondi gang didn't dare approach her, cowed by the sudden murder of their leader. The last Ashela saw before she left the bar was the Bondi gang's members carrying out the heavy body of their former leader.

Ashela hadn't forgotten she given Yondu her ship's frequencies, but was not holding on to any hope that he would contact her any time soon. Her week had been filled with an oddity of jobs that had grossed their faction a respectable sum of three million units. Ashela was already planning a day or two of relaxation for her and the crew, flipping through a list of planets and systems they could visit to unwind.

While Ashela was free to plan getaway trips for her and the crew, Yondu didn't have such luxury. He stood in the observation deck of his ship, looking out from the large laneled windows to a planet his ship was approaching. It was covered mostly in water, save for some land mass in the form of various islands. There was a small civilization here that was settled on the biggest island of the planet, but that wasn't where he was going to put his ship down. He had plans and he didn't wish for interruptions from the natives of the planet.  
Yondu looked to the paper Ashela had slipped him bearing her frequencies and a message in slanted writing; "You owe me, Blue".  
He made the call to her, not having to wait long. The suspended hologram screen showed her smiling face when she recognized who was calling her.

"Afternoon, Yondu, nice to see you alive and well," she said, the video showing she was laying back in her chair, a glowing, glass tablet in her lap, and surrounded by other bright screens.

"Thanks to you, girlie. Say. I'd like to thank ya in person for that heads up. Ain't everyday I got someone watchin' my back," he said, offering a toothy grin. " I'm 'bout to put down on a tiny planet in the Sirius system, Tariop. Can catch up on the past decade if you ain't busy with any deals."

Ashela grinned happily at the invitation. " Sounds like a date. I am not far off, about five jumps away, luckily. I'll be there soon, Yondu. Send me your coordinates," she said with a wink before ending the call.

Yondu was laughing to himself as he waved a hand through the air, the holographic screen disappearing. Quill was behind him, having caught the end of that conversation. He had been searching for Yondu the past few minutes to ask him about the Milano's upgrades, but was now more intrigued by the video call his captain just ended.

"New girlfriend? Sounds like a hot date...definitely better looking than that Shi'ar girl you picked up before," Quill said, surprising Yondu.

Yondu turned and gave Quill a slight sneer at his opinion in his choice of women.

"Nah, boy," he said, bringing the holographic screen back up. Hand swipes moved through pages until it came to rest on a photo of Ashela...along with a bounty for her live capture. "She's our new bounty."

The grin Quill wore dropped when he realized what Yondu was doing.

"Yondu, she helped us avoid a situation where we would have been ambushed and too drunk to do shit about it. You should be presenting yourself on a bed with a rose in your mouth at that point, or we would all be in prison!" he exclaimed, gesturing to Ashela's picture.

Yondu stared in confusion at Quill. "A what? A rose? What's that, boy?"

Quill often forgot even after all this time, how little alien races like Yondu's didn't know about his home planet. "A...type of ...Terran flower, look. We shouldn't be doing that to her, she's a Ravager too, right? She passed up a bounty on you to save your ass!"

Yondu rolled his red eyes. Quill had turned out to be a decent Ravager, and great at stealing like the rest of them. It was moments like this where his 'Terran compassion' as he referred to it, came into play that often frustrated Yondu.

"Get that sentiment outta your head, boy! Don't matter none, not with the bounty them Skrull got out for her," Yondu growled, going back to looking at the bounty notice for Ashela.

"Fine, but..." Quill tried to argue, until he saw Yondu enlarging the image of Ashela's bounty notice...and took a good look at the figures the Skrull were willing to pay for her live capture.

"800,000 units?! Holy shit! So..." Quill cleared his throat, reaching to scratch the back of his head. "Uh, when are we gonna go get her? Exactly?"

" Well, as you saw, now. Invited her out on a little date," Yondu said with a laugh.

Quill rolled his eyes...it always amazed him how this old bastard was able to smooth talk women...and hated that he wanted to take notes how he accomplished this.

Yondu clapped a hand on Quill's shoulder, giving it a squeeze and shake. " But I ain't goin' alone. Go get Kraglin. We are gon' need a team an' to wait for my signal. Take note, boy. This girl is all laughs and giggles right now...may seem a little bubbly in the head and that, but she ain't no push over. Girlie's a captain of her own Ravager faction...and rememberin' right, she ain't gon' go down without a good fight. She's a damn hellion, that girl. Looks ain't an accurate presentation."

Quill was quiet and gave a slow nod, digesting that little lesson. She did look relvatively harmless but as Yondu mentioned, she was a Ravager captain...and that kind of rank was not easily earned. Quill reeled forward and shouted as something hard hit him upside the back of his head. Looking back at Yondu, he realized the captain had slapped him across his skull.

"Well, what you waitin' for, boy?! Go get Kraglin and prep the ships!"


End file.
